Conformity In Brave New World

In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Heimholtz Watson lives in a society where each person is genetically designed for a social caste, determining their intelligence and purpose. Helmholtz represents the epitome of his high-status caste, yet resents the shallow nature of the society he lives in and years for something deeper. Heimholtz’s struggle between his perceived duties to participate in the conditioning of members of his society and his desire to influence people to think independently with his gift for writing contributes to Huxley’s overarching emphasis on the importance of individuality and art throughout the story. Through the concurrency of Heimholtz’s outward conformity and inward questioning, Huxley reveals that creativity and art,

Heimholtz’s understanding that he can do something more with his talent shows that in this society, though its functions are idealized by its members with people worshiping science and modern technology, citizens don’t have the agency to live their potential or passions. Heimholtz is one of the few members of his society that allows creativity at all. While Heimholtz has gotten to his position writing slogans and rhymes promoting the ideals of the society by conforming to the society’s expectations of him, his instinctive understanding of the fact that he is not using the power and influence he could have through his talent for writing shows that it is impossible to condition one’s artistic aptitude and individuality. Because his profession requires creativity, Heimholtz begins to understand the power the gift affords him. Huxley demonstrates that creativity itself, something feared by the society, is an agent of individualism and free thought, explaining why the society has strict regulations on how this power can be

Such a seemingly small act of rebellion warranting such draconian punishment shows the fear the society holds of individual thought. Through Heimholtz’s internal conflict throughout the story, Huxley shows that conformity, though easier and less risky than defiance, creates such distress in the mind of the individual that it is incompatible with free thought. Huxley uses Heimholtz’s eventual noncompliance, the natural result of the tension between his conformity and his questioning, to illustrate that free thought and artistic prowess are invaluable in our modern society to protect ourselves from a dystopian future like the one depicted in this story. A Brave New World is a cautionary tale of a future in which individuality and free thought are conditioned out of its citizens. Heimholtz, a character whose job requires a degree of creativity, over time discovers his true artistic potential. However, in a society deeply afraid of the free thought that art instills in people, Heimholtz struggles between society’s expectation of conformity and his desire to create